Article

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the construct validity and interrater reliability of 4
simple antigravity tests in a small group of patients with facioscapulohumeral
muscular dystrophy (FSHD). DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: University
medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with various severity levels of FSHD (n=9)
and healthy control subjects (n=10) were included (N=19). INTERVENTIONS: Not
applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A 4-point ordinal scale was designed to grade
performance on the following 4 antigravity tests: sit to stance, stance to sit,
step up, and step down. In addition, the 6-minute walk test, 10-m walking test,
Berg Balance Scale, and timed Up and Go test were administered as conventional
tests. Construct validity was determined by linear regression analysis using the
Clinical Severity Score (CSS) as the dependent variable. Interrater agreement was
tested using a kappa analysis. RESULTS: Patients with FSHD performed worse on all
4 antigravity tests compared with the controls. Stronger correlations were found
within than between test categories (antigravity vs conventional). The
antigravity tests revealed the highest explained variance with regard to the CSS
(R(2)=.86, P=.014). Interrater agreement was generally good. CONCLUSIONS: The
results of this exploratory study support the construct validity and interrater
reliability of the proposed antigravity tests for the assessment of functional
capacity in patients with FSHD taking into account the use of compensatory
strategies. Future research should further validate these results in a larger
sample of patients with FSHD.
CI - Copyright (c) 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS